Stems from repeated frustration and failure when trying to achieve a goal or remove oneself from a bad situation. Eventually after continued failure, the individual will simply give up and refuse to continue trying - even after new chances come along.

We can overcome learned helplessness and naivete by ensuring that initial decisions do not shut off creative thinking.

When designing testing strategies we look for ways to /confirm/ our beliefs about how the software functions rather than /refute/ our beliefs about it. In example, trying to make software crash by deliberately doing things we would orinarily say “Why would the user ever do that?”

We can overcome confirmation traps by seeing inputs from diverse populations and forcing ourselves to try to refute assumptions

The inability to see uses for something beyond the commonly presented use for it. Examples include using a hammer for an offensive weapon or a counterweight, a quarter as a screwdriver or a projectile, etc.

We can overcome functional fixation by looking for alternative uses for our tools as well as alternative paths to achieve our goals.